Classical Music | Baritone

Recorded on 07/01/2011, uploaded on 10/24/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Hugo Wolf composed the forty-six songs of his Italienisches Liederbuch between 1890 and 1896. Wolf selected the poems to set from music from a collection of anonymous Italian poetry translated by Paul Heyse, who also translated many of the poems in the composer’s Spanisches Liederbuch. The first twenty-two songs were composed between September 1890 and December 1891, and comprise Volume I of the collection. These were published the succeeding year. Volume II, consisting of the remaining twenty-four songs, however, was composed after a lengthy hiatus in 1896. Despite the four-year gap between the two volumes, Wolf managed to achieve a remarkably unified style across the entire collection, in large part due to the amorous nature of virtually the entire collection.

In “Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen” (“If you see your loved one die”), the seventeenth song of Volume I, the unnamed poet beseeches his beloved that, should he die, that she not wear her hair in curls, but let it fall freely. Then, he proceeds to praise the beauty of his beloved and her hair. Wolf sets the opening four lines of the eight-line poem in a gentle A-flat major, with harp-like arpeggios supporting the tender, almost recitative vocal melody. In the remaining half of the poem, the rhythm of the accompanying chords is quickened by diminution, while the vocal melody becomes more active and even adventurous as it traverses the key of D-flat major and briefly touches upon B major. The voice ultimately glides down to rest on the dominant for the final words of the poem, accompanied by drawn-out arpeggios in piano. An affectionate ending is reached as the piano gives the last echoes of the gentle rhythm of the accompaniment.      Joseph DuBose

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.